Shaka Toney’s future with Commanders in tatters after suspension

Edge rusher Shaka Toney faces an extremely uncertain future with the Washington Commanders after his indefinite suspension from the league.

Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of the NFL’s gambling policy. The league announced his suspension on Friday, which came as a major shock to fans.

Four other players, all members of the Detroit Lions, were also suspended. Wide receivers Quintez Cephus and C. J. Moore were suspended indefinitely. Jameson Williams, a first-round draft pick in 2022, and Stanley Berrywill, another second-year wide receiver, were suspended for six games each.

Cephus and Moore were immediately released by Detroit. As of this writing, Toney remains a member of the Commanders.

Commanders could release Shaka Toney after suspension news

But for how much longer?

Toney was drafted in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He had logged well over 1,000 snaps in college as a member of the Penn State Nittany Lions and continued Washington’s recent trend of spending late picks on athletic edge rushers.

The Commanders had selected another edge, William Bradley-King, just six picks earlier. They joined 2020 seventh-rounders James Smith-Williams and Casey Toohill – drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles and later signed by Washington – as backups to starters Montez Sweat and Chase Young.

When Young was out for extended time due to injury, Smith-Williams and Toohill were his primary replacements. In 2022, free agent Efe Obada joined that mix and also played ahead of Toney on defense.

Heading into the 2023 campaign, with Young now healthy and Sweat still under contract, Toney appeared to have fallen behind the starters, along with Smith-Williams, Toohill, and Obada on the depth chart.

It is unlikely that the Commanders would keep more than five defensive ends on the active roster. There is a decent chance they will spend another Day 3 pick on an edge player in the upcoming draft.

Before the suspension, Toney’s prospects were not great. He played just 51 defensive snaps in 2022, even with Young’s absence. However, he had made a name for himself on special teams where only All-Pro Jeremy Reaves and cornerback Christian Holmes logged more time in 2022.

Toney’s combination of size and speed (he played at about 240 pounds and clocked a 4.51-second 40-yard dash time in college) made him formidable in kick coverage.

But Toney was an awkward size to find a steady home on the Commanders’ defense. His frame and speed would logically place him at linebacker, and indeed that’s where he was initially listed during his rookie season.

However, Toney had been an attacking, blitzing edge at Penn State and he never showed the instincts to drop back into coverage or read and diagnose runs from the linebacker position. Since Washington was integrating another with similar growing pains in Jamin Davis, it would have been difficult to give him any meaningful time at the defensive second level.

Toney had shown good speed off the edge and excellent bend in college, and on the rare occasion he was able to get on the field for the Commanders, he showed a flash of that talent. But his size was always going to be a hindrance.

Washington’s other defensive ends are much bigger and longer and there has been genuine concern about Toney’s ability to stand up against NFL offensive linemen on running plays. Were he to stick with the Commanders, it was going to be as a situational pass rusher and special teamer.

Now, it appears that his career in Washington may be over. It is hard to see a way forward given his ambiguous future.

It is likely that Toney’s suspension will run the entire 2023 season, at which point he will be permitted to apply for reinstatement. Back in 2019, Washington had a promising young defensive back named Simeon Thomas who was suspended for four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. He was eventually reinstated but released before playing again for the team.

Barring injury, Toney did not figure to be a major contributor this season. With Sweat and Young set as starters, and Smith-Williams, Toohill, and Obada all available as depth pieces, he was unlikely to see many snaps. Bradley-King remains on the roster, and no one would be surprised if the Commanders don’t throw the dice on another from the college ranks.

His absence on special teams will be more obvious.

The team has already lost Cam Sims, one of the special teams’ mainstays of the past several years. I would expect that Casey Toohill will pick up some of the slack left by Toney’s absence.

In 2021, Toohill essentially played the same role as Toney last season. With Young back in 2023, Tohill will not be called on as much at the defensive end spot and can resume his heavier workload on Teams.

As for Toney, he’ll be 26 years old by the time he can apply for reinstatement. Though he is still young and talented enough to catch on somewhere, missing an entire NFL campaign is difficult to overcome.

He has been a marginal performer up to now and will have a serious blemish on his record. Should the Commanders eventually cut ties, which I think is likely, one potential silver lining for his future prospects is the relative health of both the XFL and USFL.

Should he be so inclined, Toney would have a decent chance of catching on with a team in one of those leagues next year, with an eye toward earning an invite with another NFL team.